Green Options

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Stylish in look, superior in formulation, uncompromising in purity, and exceptional in performance. Yes® is the first and only certified organic line of intimacy products in the world. Thank god and finally!! Intimate tissues are vulnerable to irritants and tissue damaging chemicals, not to mention they readily absorb anything applied topically. The water and oil based Yes collection safeguards your intimate health by eliminating all toxic additives and using [...]

Futurenatural is the ultimate modern-cool-stylish beauty emporium. Hailed as the new ‘Sephora’ for the savvy organic and natural set, they represent everything from cult classics to boutique lines. The product selection is perfectly edited, beautifully curated and most are thoughtfully designed to consider the environment. I’m excited because they’ve just unveiled some exciting new additions to their line-up including Baby Bear Shop (the gorgeous go-to organic brand for mama’s & babies), 100% Pure Fruit Pigment Lip Gloss (a cult fave), Yes (the first and only certified organic personal lubricant), Shobha (hair removal based on ancient indian rituals) Jimmyjane Porcelain Massage Stones, Suki Skincare-To-Go (now in handy travel or trial sizes) and more.

It’s well known how excited I get when I come across super cool design combined with products that work, and messaging that’s not just hype. Enter my latest obsession!

Face Boutique was created by some savvy, hip London girls who went searching for skincare specifically for young skin with issues, and surprise surprise … they couldn’t find any. At least none that met their mandate for a great aesthetic, divine smell, formulations that worked better than anything else out there, and most importantly contained nothing harmful. Three years in the making with a group of highly qualified experts and voila! Face Boutique was born.

Honestly, “natural” seems to be about a common a word as “green” these days and hands up who besides me is getting tired of the all the rhetoric? Being a natural brand should mean something and that’s exactly the position of Alima Pure. Not content with being ‘just another mineral makeup line, they went in search of the most rigorous and highly coveted natural certification they could find, and passed with flying colors. Being BDIH certified ensures that all the products contain only the safest natural ingredients, and are created and packaged in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

It’s well known to anyone who reads my work or knows me personally that I have a penchant for organic, biodynamic and natural beauty products that have killer aesthetic. At the end of the day though, looks aren’t everything and what’s more important is … does it work? Great beauty products come in a variety of guises and while not representative of the most striking design, nonetheless these beauties are tried, tested and have no trouble making the cut for some of the best beauty products for under $10

1. Raw, organic coconut oil: The virtues of this miracle oil are just about endless. Containing 50% lauric acid, a rare medium chain fatty acid found in mother’s milk, coconut oil is now being studied for its’ anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties. Not to mention it’s 92% saturated fat - need we explain the emollient qualities? Savvy island ladies have been using it for centuries but we use it for: cuticle and nail conditioning, body oil, hair treatment, wound healing, skin moisturizing, eating, cooking, drinking. Every household should have a tub!

Having led the way for many years with their approach to packaging, fair-trade and sustainable ingredients, this latest initiative from Aveda is yet another feather in the cap of this savvy green beauty brand.

Named the ‘Recycle Caps’ program, they’re collecting all hard, plastic bottle caps (from personal care products, household products, you name it), which are then being recyled into new caps, containers and bottles. Some of what they’ve already collected is being made into their limited retro edition Clove Shampoo that will be out in September with the bottle containing 96% post-consumer recycled content. The caps can be dropped off at any of their stores, beauty salons or participating schools.

Celebs such as Selma Hayek, Rosanna Arquette and even Paris Hilton, gathered en masse for a relaxed afternoon soiree in Beverly Hills over the weekend. Hosted by filmaker and legendary party-thrower Brett Ratner, whose house was turned into a day spa for the event, the purpose was to highlight the growing in popularity and newly repackaged biodynamic skincare line from Jurlique. No stranger to the organic and natural beauty industry the pioneering Australian brand has been in existence for over twenty years, but with a new look (understated and gorgeous) and a celebrity contingent who love it, we hope it’s poised to take the skincare world by storm.

I consider biodynamic beauty brands to represent the pinnacle of purity in the beauty industry. LA celebs are typically some of the first to embrace what’s at the forefront of healthy living and Californians in particular as we all know have that rep -

Punk, graphic, dynamic, assured, bright and striking … definitely not mellow. A color usually reserved for the hot Summer months, yellow is the new breakout color for fall. We’re seeing everything from gorgeous, long satin charteuse evening dresses at Donna Karan, to vibrant, eclectic and feminine at Marni, to futuristic, modern and slick at Balenciaga.

Traditionally not an easy color to wear vis-a-vis a neutral brown for example, there are nonetheless some gorgeous organic and natural makeup shades to wear with what is sure to be your new favorite color come Fall:

The issue of lead in lipsticks hit the headlines last year after the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics (CSC) published research claiming that many popular lipsticks contain unacceptably high levels of the poisonous metal. Responding to these concerns, Democratic politician Carole Migden introducted a bill requiring lipstick producers in California to prove that their products had been tested and only naturally occuring, unavoidable traces had been found.

The bill has been shot down by Attorney General, Edmund Brown, who concluded that concentrations would have to reach 5ppm (parts per million) to be considered dangerous, and the maximum traces found in the CSC testing were 0.65ppm. The bill that Senator Migden brought forward suggested the minimum allowable should be 0.002ppm (which is far below the traces found in all the lipsticks tested by CSC). So where does that leave us? Nowhere.

Unless you were born in the last ten years and never listen to music, you’ve no doubt heard of legendary Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood - but how many of you know of his wife Jo Wood, organic maven and legend in her own right?

Used to traveling to far-flung, global locales while touring with the band and long a fan of an organic lifestyle, Wood created this line to offer a [...]

The organic & natural beauty market is increasingly saturated with new brands and products, and growing confusion about what’s ok for you and what’s not. Now seems like a good a time to provide a basic outline of what you need to know. In the posts to follow I’ll cover these in more depth but here’s a good starting point:

Natural: Widely defined as any substance harvested or derived from nature and then isolated, processed or purified by a variety of environmentally sound techniques including filtration, fermentation, distillation, expressing and other like processes.